In an effort to provide consumers with the best form of laundry products to meet their needs, manufacturers have developed new product forms and have even brought back old product forms. One product form which has recently been launched is the laundry detergent tablet. However, with tablets it is desirable to minimize any full or partial disintegration during shipping and storage.
Various patents have been directed to inventions wherein package materials are processed so as to impart certain desired characteristics.
Carstens, U.S. Pat No. 5,085,367 discloses that to increase the compressive strength of a corrugated cardboard box, the horizontal edges of the box are perforated and the vertical edges are chemically treated.
Pratt, U.S. Pat. No. 3,668,052 discloses a corrugated arcuate member having a plurality of rigid corrugations and having improved formability as a result of a plurality of generally transverse slots disposed along a radially outer portion of the corrugation.
Simpson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,556 discloses a shock absorbing component for packaging an article. The component is foldable for enclosing the article therein. One section of the component includes multiple non-linear cuts or serrations such that upon placing the article between the first and a second section, the cuts allow the first section to deform and at least partially conform to the shape of the first surface of the article. The component may be disposed within, or integrally formed with, a shipping container having exterior protective walls.
Goodrich et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,667,871 discloses a filling material for use in filling hollow spaces in packaging or the like and having a plurality of individual slits formed in parallel spaced rows extending transversely from one end of the paper material to the opposing end of the paper material. It is said that when the material of the invention, most preferably paper, is cut in a particular pattern and expanded it increases in length, decreases in width and increases dramatically in effective cushioning thickness.
Evans, U.S. Pat. No. 2,203,084 discloses a fiberboard structure for extending a panel or sheet of fiberboard, such as certain top and bottom panels, over an area greater than it normally occupies.
Mensing et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,676 discloses an apparatus for slitting and/or grooving material sheets of corrugated board.
Miller, U.S. Pat. No. 6,092,651 discloses a wrap around hinged end cap for packaging a computer system. Straight cut slits are said to permit modification of impact absorption characteristics of various portions of the packaging device.
Other containers having various forms of scores or slits include that of Antczak et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,385.
It has been discovered that tablets and other potentially breakable consumer products can be transported in a carton with little or no compromise to their integrity by providing bottom flaps of the carton with cuts for cushioning the carton. Preferably, at least two adjacent flaps include the cuts, preferably in the form of slits. The cuts can be in the form of long, uninterrupted slits, perforated lines or non-linear cuts. However, in a preferred embodiment, the carton is a corrugated carton and the slits run parallel to the lines of corrugation. More preferably, the corrugation includes troughs and the slits are imposed in the fiberboard parallel to and opposite the troughs of the corrugations.
Most preferably, all of the bottom flaps include slits or other cuts.
Preferably the slits or other cuts are regularly spaced across the bottom closure flaps averaging say one slit for every corrugation, one slit for every other corrugation, or one slit for every three corrugations. Preferably there is on average at least one slit or other cut for every three corrugations.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a carton blank is provided wherein the bottom flaps include the slits. Preferably the slits are transverse to the longitudinal axis of the carton blank.
For a more complete understanding of the above and other features and advantages of the invention, reference should be made to the following Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments and to the accompanying drawings.